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Reno: A whitewater destination
Wendy Lautner, Special to Reno.com
The popularity of the park is hard to deny. Located in the bustling downtown corridor of the "Biggest Little City" where the Truckee River splits into north and south channels that flow around an island dubbed Wingfield Park, the place is impossible to ignore. Even harder to miss are the dozens of boaters who show up with brightly colored plastic kayaks propped on their shoulders on a regular basis to play in the features.
The park was designed by Gary Lacy, who, with 35 parks to his credit is the United States' premiere whitewater park designer.
Lacy rates the design on the Truckee River as one of his best.
"Everything added up just makes such a nice package," he said. "The location is great, the visibility for the spectators is superb, the size and gradient of the Truckee are ideal and the water quality is crystal clear. I've worked in places where the water is really dirty, this place is great here."
Although renovations to the river bed cannot change the capacity of water the Truckee River can hold, and the flows are not regulated exclusively for recreational purposes, the park has been designed to maximize the amount of cubic feet per second (CFS) in the river.
Fluvial geomorphologist Lynn Zonge of Resource Concept Inc. in Carson City said the average summer flow for the Truckee is 500 CFS, with average peak springtime flows at around 2,000 CFS.
"The channel holds 14,000 CFS before it will flood," she said. "We have done nothing to change the capacity of the river."
Currently, the Truckee is flowing at around 400 CFS, which is normal for this time of year. Construction of the slalom course is still in the works, which means water is being diverted from the south channel, so all of the flow from the river is in the north channel.
Construction for the south side is expected to be finished before November 1.
"By November 1 we have to be out of the river period," Brehler said. "Everything has gone really smooth. We are running ahead of schedule right now."
The natural rock in the river is granite and the construction of the park has imported granite boulders from the Mount Rose area and from underneath the foundation of the new Chateau building at the Championship Golf Course in Incline Village.
"We dug out the foundation for the Chateau before we started this project, so we just used some of the boulder we found there to line the riverbanks here," Brehler said.
Brehler said that in construction of the features in the north and south channels, all of the rocks in the drop structures have been grouted, which means they are essentially one big rock. This eliminates the possibility of entrapment hazards due to shifting boulders.
While the gradient of the north channel drops around two feet per every 200 to 300 feet, making it ideal for a beginners play park according to Lacy, the south channel is designed with slightly steeper drops and shorter recovery pools to keep racing kayakers sharp and on their game.
There are five hydraulics in the north channel and will be six in the south channel upon completion. All of the rapids are rated between class two and class three in difficulty.
Rundown on the features
The best part of the first feature is a small, but sticky ledge pourover on river-right. There is a narrow spot ideal for performing cartwheels in a playboat. A kayak cartwheel looks similar to a gymnastic cartwheel. The move is executed when a kayaker tips his/her kayak on edge and rotates his/her body to spin the kayak end to end on a perpendicular plane to the water's surface.
The second feature is an almost river-wide frothy foam pile. The pile is shallow but is ideal for practicing the form and function of flat spinning a kayak.
"The cool thing about this park is that the features will get deeper," said Lisa Beckstead, professional rodeo kayaker who lives in Reno and works at LotusDesigns, a paddlesports company. "Right now the park has a lot of good features which allow you to really work on technique and form. My paddling has gotten a lot better since I've started playing there."
On the river-right side of the second hydraulic there is also a seam where a short boat can find the momentum and depth to perform consecutive cartwheels.
"The spots are really friendly and forgiving," Beckstead said.
The third hydraulic is very similar to the second, but is river-wide, not quite as deep and more retentive. It is ideal for group surf sessions, where more than one kayaker can enjoy the surf at the same time. The fourth feature is a nice glassy wave, ideal for teaching the fundamentals of a front surf to beginners, but difficult for executing tricks. The fifth hydraulic is a "smiling" hole, which means the foam on the sides points downstream but it is currently very shallow and a little sticky.
"You can get trashed in there," said Phil Breanstam, whitewater paddler from Reno.
The park was designed by Gary Lacy, who, with 35 parks to his credit is the United States' premiere whitewater park designer.
Lacy rates the design on the Truckee River as one of his best.
"Everything added up just makes such a nice package," he said. "The location is great, the visibility for the spectators is superb, the size and gradient of the Truckee are ideal and the water quality is crystal clear. I've worked in places where the water is really dirty, this place is great here."
Although renovations to the river bed cannot change the capacity of water the Truckee River can hold, and the flows are not regulated exclusively for recreational purposes, the park has been designed to maximize the amount of cubic feet per second (CFS) in the river.
Fluvial geomorphologist Lynn Zonge of Resource Concept Inc. in Carson City said the average summer flow for the Truckee is 500 CFS, with average peak springtime flows at around 2,000 CFS.
"The channel holds 14,000 CFS before it will flood," she said. "We have done nothing to change the capacity of the river."
Currently, the Truckee is flowing at around 400 CFS, which is normal for this time of year. Construction of the slalom course is still in the works, which means water is being diverted from the south channel, so all of the flow from the river is in the north channel.
Construction for the south side is expected to be finished before November 1.
"By November 1 we have to be out of the river period," Brehler said. "Everything has gone really smooth. We are running ahead of schedule right now."
The natural rock in the river is granite and the construction of the park has imported granite boulders from the Mount Rose area and from underneath the foundation of the new Chateau building at the Championship Golf Course in Incline Village.
"We dug out the foundation for the Chateau before we started this project, so we just used some of the boulder we found there to line the riverbanks here," Brehler said.
Brehler said that in construction of the features in the north and south channels, all of the rocks in the drop structures have been grouted, which means they are essentially one big rock. This eliminates the possibility of entrapment hazards due to shifting boulders.
While the gradient of the north channel drops around two feet per every 200 to 300 feet, making it ideal for a beginners play park according to Lacy, the south channel is designed with slightly steeper drops and shorter recovery pools to keep racing kayakers sharp and on their game.
There are five hydraulics in the north channel and will be six in the south channel upon completion. All of the rapids are rated between class two and class three in difficulty.
Rundown on the features
The best part of the first feature is a small, but sticky ledge pourover on river-right. There is a narrow spot ideal for performing cartwheels in a playboat. A kayak cartwheel looks similar to a gymnastic cartwheel. The move is executed when a kayaker tips his/her kayak on edge and rotates his/her body to spin the kayak end to end on a perpendicular plane to the water's surface.
The second feature is an almost river-wide frothy foam pile. The pile is shallow but is ideal for practicing the form and function of flat spinning a kayak.
"The cool thing about this park is that the features will get deeper," said Lisa Beckstead, professional rodeo kayaker who lives in Reno and works at LotusDesigns, a paddlesports company. "Right now the park has a lot of good features which allow you to really work on technique and form. My paddling has gotten a lot better since I've started playing there."
On the river-right side of the second hydraulic there is also a seam where a short boat can find the momentum and depth to perform consecutive cartwheels.
"The spots are really friendly and forgiving," Beckstead said.
The third hydraulic is very similar to the second, but is river-wide, not quite as deep and more retentive. It is ideal for group surf sessions, where more than one kayaker can enjoy the surf at the same time. The fourth feature is a nice glassy wave, ideal for teaching the fundamentals of a front surf to beginners, but difficult for executing tricks. The fifth hydraulic is a "smiling" hole, which means the foam on the sides points downstream but it is currently very shallow and a little sticky.
"You can get trashed in there," said Phil Breanstam, whitewater paddler from Reno.
